As more companies flood the space for products like faux
hamburgers, only the ones with the highest quality and taste will outlast the
market, Beyond Meat Executive Chairman Seth Goldman said.

Christopher Doering, FoodDive

Sept. 17, 2019

BALTIMORE — As the plant-based meat space becomes
inundated with new offerings in 2019, food manufacturers are inevitably
preparing for the fact that not everyone will capture a coveted place on the
shelf, an official with fast-growing upstart Beyond Meat told Food Dive.

When Seth Goldman invested in Beyond Meat in 2012, he was
decidedly upbeat about the future of plant-based meat. But since then, as more
meat-loving consumers flock to foods made from plants amid a push to eat
healthier and help the environment, the space has exploded, he said. This has
attracted upstarts and big-name players such as Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Perdue,
Hormel Foods and Conagra into the space, or pushed them to make their existing
offerings taste even more like the real thing in a bid to attract more meat
eaters.

"At some point, not all those products are going to
make it on the shelf. Not all of them are going to stay on the shelf,"
said Goldman, who joined Beyond Meat as a board member in 2013 and became
executive chairman in 2015, told Food Dive.

Restaurants, he said, will likely only want to carry one
plant-based brand. Supermarkets will only stock a handful of them. The winners
will rise to the top with product characteristics that have long outlined
success in food: quality and taste, Goldman said.

Early stages of growth in faux meat

While legacy veggie burgers such as Conagra's Gardein,
Kellogg's MorningStar Farms and Kraft Heinz’s Boca have dominated the space for
years, the emergence of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods with their meat-like
hamburgers have thrust more attention on plant-based options. Unlike prior
iterations, these brands are not just referred to as "veggie
burgers." Instead, they are being referred to by their brand names,
helping to enhance the visibility of the product in the marketplace.

The plant-based meat market is expanding at an impressive
clip. Sales climbed 42% between March 2016 and March 2019, when they reached
$888 million, according to Nielsen data reported by the Associated Press. At
the same time, sales of conventional meat were up 1% to $85 billion.
Euromonitor predicts the market for plant-based meat substitutes will reach
$2.5 billion by 2023.

Beyond Meat went public in May. In July, the company said
sales nearly quadrupled during the quarter from the prior year, and it is on
track to post a profit this year after adjusting for some expenses and taxes.

Eager to boost sales and grab a share of the growing
segment, several major food companies have entered the space, some of them for
the first time.

Nestlé is debuting a plant-based product called the
Awesome Burger under its Sweet Earth brand that is set to hit shelves on
October 1. The global food giant grilled up samples as part of the brand's
unveiling at Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore last week.

Bob Connolly, vice president of marketing with Sweet
Earth, told Food Dive the Awesome Burger will separate itself from others on
the market not only through taste but also with a better nutritional profile,
which includes 26 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. (Beyond Meat has 20
grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber, while the Impossible Burger contains 19
grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.)

Connolly said the plant-based space can absorb more
offerings, much like alternative milks grew beyond nuts to oats, hemp, soy,
coconut and rice. While he declined to say which stores will carry the Awesome
Burger when it's launched, the product has been "really well
received" so far with retailers that have "lined up ready to take
it."

"Meats have such a long way to go that we can have a
couple brands out there," Connolly said. "We got a retail-ready
product and I think it's going to take off."

Tyson Foods, known for its beef, pork and chicken
products, has a new brand called Raised & Rooted. The offerings include
plant-based nuggets made from a blend of pea protein isolate and other
ingredients. It also has blended burgers made with Angus beef and pea protein
isolate. Hormel is developing a vegan pizza topping and a non-GMO meat substitute
made with soy protein that can be used in any recipe calling for ground meat.

"The acceleration in plant based is just taken
everyone by surprise," said Goldman, who splits his time between Beyond
Meat and Honest Tea, the beverage company he co-founded. "It's been far
quicker and more aggressive and more robust than anyone expected it to be. We
always believed it would go to this level. It's just surprising how quickly
that has happened."

'Nothing is off the table'

Goldman said companies like Beyond Meat may not have as
large of a research and development budget as some big food manufacturers. What
they do have is focused on one area: creating food from plants. This allows
them to continually update and improve their product offerings, compared to a
bigger player that has a large portfolio on which to focus its time, attention
and marketing budget...